


In Noctem

by atimia_sama (charis_chan)



Category: Frozen (2013)
Genre: Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, Elsanna - Freeform, Emotional Manipulation, F/F, Incest, Other, Underage - Freeform, give elsa a hug, icest - Freeform, implied sex abuse, little!Elsa, politics and religion come into play sometimes, some church bashing (at least this world's church), vampire!Anna
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-12
Updated: 2019-02-27
Packaged: 2019-04-21 19:43:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14292060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charis_chan/pseuds/atimia_sama
Summary: When Anna was born, she didn't measure up.When Elsa was born, she carried the line on her shouldersWhen Anna left, she evolved.When Elsa stayed behind, she grew stronger.When Anna returned, Death followed.When Elsa got crowned, Life began.Or,A story where Elsa is the younger sister, Anna wants power but not responsibility and they stumble in a dark, blood-filled relationship that shouldn't have ever happened.DARK THEMES AND DARKER PLOT[Idea and plot based onM6'sfanart... I asked them permission to work with their art a looooooong time ago, but I'm pants at writing stuff when I say I would, honestly, so...]





	1. The Green Room

**Author's Note:**

> This is a re-post of the story of the same name I posted like, three years ago.
> 
> I finally got around to keep writing it.
> 
> It's a REALLY DARK STORY, so proceed with caution.
> 
> All the opinions mentioned here, the decisions the characters make, don't reflect my opinions nor my thoughts on several matters. I just wanted to write dark material and, well, this time around, dark material comes with offensive/unusual themes.

_Clink._

“ – Advisor Kai has asked me to tell Her Highness that Her Highness’ protocol examination left Monsieur Fromage impressed. He had never seen someone as poised and fluid as Her Highness-”

_Clink._

She watched as another pin dropped into the bowl resting on her dressing table, making that little clink that she had come to relate to bedtime. She hated how her Nana did her hair every morning. Not only she brushed and brushed until she hurt, she also had to put hundreds of pins in it, pulling it painfully and leaving her with no other option but to turn her body almost completely just to look to the side if she wanted to keep her scalp in place.

_Clink._

“- and tomorrow we expect a light rain so Her Highness’ riding lessons will put to a hold. Her Highness’ dance instructor will come instead as will Her Highness’ Elemental Mistress-”

_Clink._

It was like this every night. She would sit at her dressing table, staring back to those icy blue eyes that looked at her with boredom in the mirror as her Nana took out every single pin out her hair and commented on what was expected of her the next day. Sometimes, if she was lucky, her Nana would say a few sentences and mostly stay quiet through the nightly ritual. That meant she would have some free time the next day and she could hole herself up in the library with a book.

_Clink._

Most of the time, however, her Nana had many things to say and as such she would have so many things to do the next day. Piano lessons, dancing lessons, Elemental lessons, history, art, economics, English, French, German, Latin, Greek, poetry, horse-riding, fencing, etiquette… she had so many lessons which blurred her days into a never ending week that rarely saw her resting. Being Crown Princess sucked.

_Clink._

She was used to tune out her Nana’s talking. She had years’ worth of practice and now she was able to know when to actually pay attention and when it was safe to let the older woman talk to herself. Her Nana rarely said anything worth listening. No one actually said anything worth listening.

_Clink._

“- and the Ambassador of Berk would like to meet Her Highness. Her Highness should not worry about it, though, he only intents to meet Her Highness for formalities’ sake, he would surely meet Their Majesties once they return from Corona to conclude any busi-”

_Clink._

She perked up at that. “Nana?” she interrupted quietly. “When are my Mother Queen and my Father King due back?”

The pulling at her hair stopped and her Nana pursed her lips, most surely annoyed at being cut mid-sentence. However, she was the Crown Princess and she could do nothing other than inform Advisor Kai of her rudeness to be addressed at a later date. “I believe they will be back in a month, Your Highness.”

She frowned a little as the ministrations to her hair returned. Her parents, the Queen and King of Arendelle, had been gone for three months already and now it looked like they would be gone yet another month. She did not miss them, not really, it was hard to miss someone that was not actually there, but she could not shake off the feeling of being left behind every time they took off for more than a week.

_Clink._

Unsurprising, really, that she was left behind.

She should be used to it by now.

Anyone she had always held dear left her behind. _She_ left her and it had hurt more than she was willing to admit. They had never been truly close, the age gap between them too grand to actually be playmates, but she had always loved her. She may never get to talk to her or be near her other than at meals, but she did love her and she missed her terribly. While her parents had been gone for months, she had been gone for _years._

It hurt.

_Clink._

It hurt being the Crown Princess. She had been trained to be the perfect queen, set to follow her Mother’s example and steps. She was the one that got the boring lessons, the pressure of success and the stupid expectations thrown over her shoulders. She was the Crown Princess and she had never set foot outside the Castle. She was the Crown Princess and she had never met other kids, not even other royal kids. She was the Crown Princess and, no matter how lovely it sounded from beyond the outer walls, she had never seen the ocean that surrounded Arendelle.

It hurt being her.

_Clink._

It hurt being able to control ice and snow. Her parents were Elementals, just as all the royals that had ruled before them. Her Mother was an Earth Elemental and as such she was loved by their people. She was able to make the lands fertile and the harvests plentiful. Her Father was an Air Elemental and he always made sure to bring storm clouds over the sown lands and to set the ships off with a nice breeze to accompany them over their commercial travels.

_Clink._

Being an Ice Elemental was not useful, especially in Arendelle which High Lands had several frozen lakes and tall mountains where snow and ice were eternal and summers were more cool than warm. Her Element might have been appreciated on the Southern regions, but in Arendelle, in Arendelle she was as useless as a new-born kitten. And the people knew that.

Hence the never ending list of lessons and teachers that came from all corners of the world to instruct her how to be the best Queen Arendelle had seen in centuries. If only her parents could had another child, someone with more useful Empathies. They had done it before, why not again?

_Clink._

“All done, Your Highness. It’s time for bed.”

She sighed and looked at the mirror. Her hair cascaded down her back, free waves of platinum blonde, thick and heavy, ready to be tussled up in her sleep. “Thank you, Nana,” she said politely as she had been instructed to do the moment she began to talk.

The older woman smiled tightly at her and went to the bed, readying it for the Princess to slide in and then moving around the room to put out the candles. “Her Highness must go to sleep now.”

She stood up slowly, her spine erect and her hands folded neatly in front her body. Just as she was taught to do ever since she could stand up by herself. She walked to the bed, small steps, a little sway of the hips, making sure her feet almost, _almost,_ glided over the floor. ‘Make it look like you are floating, Your Highness.’ Monsieur Fomage would often said.

“May your dreams be filled with glory and peace, Your Highness.”

“Thank you, Nana,” she repeated as she got under the covers and pulled the comforter and duvet to her chin, her Nana already closer to the door than her. That was odd, her Nana would always read to her before retiring for the night. Where was her story? “Nana?” she called. “Are you going for a new book?”

The older woman stopped with her hand over the doorknob. She turned to see the Princess and a small, sad smile made it to her face. “I beg your pardon, Your Highness, Her Majesty has decreed that Her Highness’ bed time story should end when Her Highness reaches ten years.”

She blinked at that, the shock was easily seen in her face if the reproachful, small glare she received was any indication. She quickly composed her features, just as she was lectured so many times over the her early childhood. No matter what she was feeling, her face needed to be a mask of indifference and property. “Nana?” she chose to ask instead of the babbling her mind was coming up with.

“Today was Her Highness’ birthday, Your Highness. Did Her Highness forget?”

“No.” She closed her eyes for a second, her heart battling between feeling hurt or simply acceptance. Of course it had been her birthday and nobody had bothered to tell her. After months of having a similar schedule every day the weeks had started blurring for her and she had no way of knowing the date. It had been her birthday, her tenth birthday, so it was not important. She turned ten, not eighteen. Of course they did not tell her. “No, I did not forget… I was simply not aware of what my Mother Queen had ordered.”

Her Nana bowed low to her, as she had never done and that made her feel queasy all of sudden. Her Nana was the closest she had to a semi-normal relationship with almost no adherence to titles and all forms of formality. Having her bow to her was wrong. “Good night, Your Highness.”

“Good night, Nana.”

The woman turned to leave again but she stopped. Maybe it was the dejected tone in her voice, or the crestfallen expression she could not really control after the bow, but the older woman went back and did something her Mother had forbidden when she turned five. With a gentle caress to a cheek and a soft smile, her Nana placed a feather-light kiss on her forehead while softly whispering words she had not uttered in years. “Sleep well, my sweet Elsa.”

Elsa smiled at last, she could not remember when the last time she had been kissed was. The Crown Princess remembered that _she_ had kissed her goodbye when she went away, a quick brush of lips that had been pressed over hers, but that had been four years ago and she was not too sure she had received even a hug since then. This was the most marvellous birthday gift she had ever received and she chose to treasure it forever. “Thank you,” she whispered as her Nana finally made it out the room.

She kept her smile as she shed her gloves off her hands, those gloves she was instructed to wear at all times and places, except when she was either bathing or sleeping, and placed them on her bedside table. Still smiling, she put out the last candle near her and let the darkness consume her room. Closing her eyes and settling in her favourite spot to sleep, she let the stillness of the night and the quiet of the fjord cocoon her in the comfort that maybe would get her to dream of _her_.

XxXxX

“- and so the Treaty with the Southern Islands began. Her Majesty Queen Sophia the Fourth signed the last draft on 1467-”

The rain had always fascinate her. There was something about the way the droplets raced down the window panes that had always comforted her and made her feel insignificant and small, yet protected and safe. Rain cleansed and help things grow. Rain signalled winter was ending and tell that the trading and harvest season was to begin soon. Rain was life and joy.

She wished she could control water. Controlling rain might be more useful than controlling ice… it surely would be more entertaining.

“Your Highness?”

Elsa turned her eyes from the window she had been glazing off for the last several minutes and stared at her History professor. “Yes, Frau Munk?”

“Would Her Highness care to tell me when the Coal Treaty was signed?” Frau Munk asked her with a white eyebrow raised. None of her professors were allowed to reprimand her but they enjoyed calling her out when she was not paying attention.

“1678, Frau Munk,” she answered dutifully. “Her Majesty, Queen Anna the First, signed it so that the ninety-day-long siege on Rackmound could end. Her Majesty helped Rackmound and, in exchange, they sold us their coal at a tenth of its price, an agreement that still prevails.” She almost smirked at the annoyed look on her professor face. Her instructors might like calling her out, but she loved proving them she already knew what they all drone about. It frustrated and annoyed them, and that was often her only source of amusement.

“Correct, Your Highness. Now, let us talk about Her Highness namesake, Her Majesty Queen Elsa the Second. As Her Highness can remember Her Majesty was born on-”

And so the lesson continued. And so did the staring out the window. She had a fond spot for that particular window and so, every time she got to sit near it, she would end up staring out of it and not paying attention. Not that she needed to pay attention to lessons she had mastered years ago. Her professors still believed they had something to teach her, hence why she was not allowed to sit there that often.

The window had the perfect view of the gate used by the servants to go in and out the Castle’s outer walls, a gate that opened intermittently and constantly. Sometimes, when she was really lucky, she would get to see the gate open for more than a few seconds, when a cart was passing through or when a group of soldiers came in or out and then she would have an almost perfect view of the City beyond her prison.

And that was the reason she liked that window. It may not let her see the immaculate gardens or the stables where Sven and Gale, the only animals she was comfortable around, lived, but it showed her what was beyond the Castle. It showed her what waited for her when, one day, she got to walk around freely and got to meet the people under her care. She dreamt of that day, the day she would get to see up close the low houses, the flower shops, the parks, the boutiques, the children. The ocean.

Sometimes, when she dared to enter the Gallery against her Mother’s orders, often when she and Father were nowhere around, she got to see the ocean from the tallest window. She had to climb a low and fragile bookcase but the glimpse she saw of it always left her breathless. How she yearned to see the ocean, to taste the salt in the air by its shore and not behind those walls that held her captive in a golden cage.

“And so, Her Majesty Queen Elsa the Second started-” A knock at the door interrupted the lesson and Frau Munk immediately called out. “Yes?”

The door opened and there stood Advisor Kai, the only man Elsa was sure her parents truly trusted. Not only had he been around since ever, but he was always left in charge when they went away. His duties went from everything that had to do with the kingdom’s management to oversee the staff’s working hours. His most important duty, however, was to make sure the Crown Princess attended each one of her lessons without a hitch. He was the only one allowed to scold her and he did so with a glare and a heavy voice that always left her trembling inside. His threats to send her to the High Priest always made her quiver in fear.

“Her Highness’ Elemental Mistress is here,” he announced. “If Frau Munk would be kind to end today’s lesson?” he ordered with a question. He always ordered with questions.

The strict woman nodded. “Her Highness is well versed on the matter we have been discussing.” She turned to Elsa. “Her Highness is free to go.”

Elsa stood up from her chair, eyes still out the window, and a small frown on her face. As the elders were speaking she had saw the gate open and the pair of guards posted at either side of it had instantly sprung to attention. First they had been quick to point their lances to the cloaked figure that just crossed the gate at a leisure pace. The figure was not tall, or at least not as tall as the guards, and had its body and face totally covered by a black, soaked, cloak… almost as it was hiding from something.

Then, just as Advisor Kai was asking for the lesson to end, they slightly uncovered their face and the guards lowered the lances, bowing deeply to the figure, which had again its face totally covered by the cloak. Elsa had sighed then, had the sun not been hiding behind the heavy clouds she might had been able to make out the face beneath the cloak, but the shadow of the cloth and the darkened light had made it impossible to even see the figure’s gender. She was curious to know who had made the guards bow.

As the figure went deeper into the courtyard, she wondered who they were and why it looked like they knew where to go without hesitation. She was sure they were not one of her parents, even when they had delayed their return for three more months, as they always used the main gate, never the servant’s one. They were also not the High Priest nor any of the many Ambassadors that lived in the city, they too used the main gate all the time and were accompanied by a page as the Castle was a big labyrinth for those that did not know it well.

“Thank you, Frau Munk.” Elsa curtsied to the older woman as was the norm before following Advisor Kai out the lessons’ room and towards the front garden, when no doubt Mistress Olga would be waiting for her, like always.

Mistress Olga was her Elemental Mistress, the person that was in charge of helping her control her Empathies. She was an Air Elemental just like her Father but never that powerful. Her Mistress’ Powers were enough to move light objects or to create small, weak tornados that rustled the leaves and grass but she could never move clouds or set a ship sailing.

She was weak in a sense but she was the only other Elemental in Arendelle asides from her parents and Elsa herself. She was old and wrinkly and she had also helped her Mother control her Affinities when she was a princess, so it was logical she was to help Elsa control her Powers too. Not that the woman had a bone of teacher in her body.

She sighed. She was tired and she really did not want to use her Empathies right now. She really did not want to make ice sculptures and weapons. She would rather go to the library and snuggle with a book in front the fireplace. No,she would rather investigate who was the cloaked figure. Yes, she would rather go find that out than go to her cranky, weak Mistress.

Especially now that a maid had all but run into the room, looking for Advisor Kai and told him he was needed immediately in the Green Room. The Green Room was _her_ room. Ever since _she_ left nobody had put foot in it and Elsa could not believe someone would now be staying there. It was _her_ room, did they not remember?

Sadly, she was never consulted on things related to the Castle and when she did it was so that her Mother could teach her how to rule and manage their home, not that her Mother ever did what she told her. And Advisor Kai was the one in charge, so she had to submit to him. If he decided that this guest was staying in _her_ room, then there was nothing she could do but brood over it.

Who she was kidding? If they were putting someone in there, she was going to create the biggest ice storm that anyone on Arendelle had ever seen and she would bury the land in her snow until they got that person in another room, no matter who it was.

Of that she was absolutely sure.


	2. The News

_Clink._

“Nana?” Elsa asked softly. Her Nana for the first time in a long while had been quieter than usual. She had not rambled about her schedule the next day and she had barely talked to her about the usual Castle gossip at lunch. Something was fishy and she did not know what to think of it. “Is there something the matter?”

_Clink._

“Of course not, Your Highness,” the older woman said with a nervous smile and Elsa immediately knew she was lying.

_Clink._

“I heard we have a visitor,” the Crown Princess said conversationally. Of course she did not hear. No one ever talked to her or around her. But she could not tell her Nana that she had seen this visitor arrive and Advisor Kai being whisked away to tend to the matter.

The hands on her head stopped its ministrations and Elsa had to hide a smirk at having made the older woman pale slightly. Her Nana, just as the rest of the staff, was always the epitome of calm indifference, never showing any real emotion or inclination to anything, really. Having her react was almost as satisfying as annoying her professors and Mistress. “Where would Her Highness hear that?”

Elsa shrugged lightly, just a barely there movement of shoulders. “I heard some whispers.”

Her Nana sighed. “Her Highness should not hear things not mean for Her Highness ears,” she said almost to herself. “No, we are not hosting a guest, Your Highness,” she addressed Elsa.

“Then who is staying in the Green Room?” The young princess went directly to the point. She did not care that they were fostering strangers in the Castle, she did not even care if they put a beggar in her parents’ room, but no one should ever stay in _her_ room. And no one would if they did not want winter to last forever. Consequences be damned.

The older woman bit her lip and had Elsa not been a little on the angry side she would find the sight funny. Who would have guessed nanas did peasant’s faces? “Your Highness,” the woman began hesitantly. “That is not a matter I’m allowed to discuss, at least not until Your High-”

A knock at the door startled them both. Bed time was a time that saw Nana and Princess alone and having someone interrupting them was not heard of. There was no real reason to seek Elsa at night. Whatever matters that needed to be discussed with her were often addressed just after lunch and before her evening lessons. Not even her parents sought her out after they said their goodnights at dinner.

Making sure her night robe was properly covering her night dress the young girl channelled her princess’ voice and called out. “Enter.”

Advisor Kai stood at the door and bowed low to the girl. Elsa, frowning, got up from her low stool and addressed the man. “Advisor, you may rise.”

“Your Highness,” he said. “I am sorry for bothering you, but an urgent letter has come not half an hour ago.” He held out a yellowish envelope.

The young Princess took the proffered piece of paper and was not surprised to see the wax seal already broken. All the letters were read by a scribe before going to her Mother unless the letter was confidential in which case Advisor Kai would be the one reading it… and by the look of the broken seal this one had been one of those confidential ones.

Retrieving the parchment from inside the envelope, she was surprised to notice that the letter was addressed to ‘Her Highness Crown Princess Elsa, Daughter of Queen Idunn, of the Most Royal Family of Arendelle’. Since when did people send her confidential letters? She read the short missive quickly, her eyebrows coming together in utter confusion and dread. It was written in German so it was not that she did not understood the words, even when it was written in the most formal way possible and she had to double check some of the most complex sentences, but rather, she did not understand the meaning.

Or at least, she did not want to. She refused to.

“Advisor?” Her voice trembled and she felt a heavy weight settling on her chest.

The man lowered his head. “Please receive my most deeply felt condolences, Your Highness. I sent a messenger to Corona to see if the missive is true. Her Highness would know in a week at most.”

“Do you not believe this to be true?” Elsa asked as she fought to keep breathing, not to panic.

Advisor Kai sighed as her Nana tried to understand what was happening. “I believe it true,” he confessed. “But I pray to the Lord the messenger will prove me wrong, Your Highness.”

The blonde girl stiffened and rubbed at her temples, trying to ease the pain that was forming there. “I need you to contact Anna,” she requested. “She needs to be here if- if- they-” A sudden sob cut her speech as she battled to say the words, words that were so damning to be true. She hung her head as a hand found its way to her mouth, trying desperately to muffle the sobs that were begging to be released.

The Advisor took in a deep breath. “Her Highness Princess Anna will be informed immediately… Your Majesty.”

Elsa’s head shot up at the new title. “No,” she demanded. “Do not call me that. Not yet _._ ”

The trusted servant smiled sadly as her Nana muffled a gasp behind her hands, finally understanding what they were talking about. “With all due respect, Your Majesty, we all shall get used to the name sooner rather than later.”

The tears finally started rolling down the Princess’, now maybe Queen, cheeks. “No,” she sniffled. “No. No. No. No. N-No. No! NO!” she screamed with all her might.

Her Nana tried to put a hand on her shoulder but the young girl shrugged it off. “Your Majesty-”

“NO!” she yelled again. She stood straighter and, even when the streaming tears somewhat ruined the image, she put on her best commanding face and used her most stern voice. “Until we know for sure, until Anna is here, no one will address me as that. I am still the Crown Princess, I. Am. No. Queen.” She could not be Queen, she did not want to be Queen. Not yet. Not ever.

Advisor Kai gulped and for a moment he was reminded of Queen Idunn’s, now probably deceased, commanding glare. There was no doubt the young girl was her Mother’s daughter. Not only did they share the same facial features but they were bred and raised to be the same kind of monarch. Seeing the somewhat small ten-years-old’s posture and domineering aura, he did not doubt the girl would fill in her predecessor’s shoes. “As you wish, Your Highness.” He again took a deep breath, knowing what he was going to say would make the girl even more emotional than she was now. “However I must inform you that Her Highness Princess Anna arrived today at mid-morning. I will convey Her Highness these news as soon as I leave here.”

Elsa’s heart skipped a beat.

Around mid-morning she was with her Mistress, training with her ice daggers and surely she would have seen her sister arriving to the Castle. Her sister was never easy to miss, her strawberry blonde hair always caught the sun in a way that looked like it was on fire and her tall form, or at least she had thought of her as tall all those years ago, made her one of the persons Elsa always saw first. How was it that she did not see her?

And then, she knew. The cloaked figure whom the guards had bowed to, the same that had knew its way around the Castle with no servant and the same that had walked in as if it owned the place. Also, it was the one that was staying in _her_ room. “S-She arrived t-today?” Her voice failed as her heart clenched painfully. Why had not Anna gone to see her the moment she arrived?

“Yes, Your Highness. Her Highness Princess Anna asked to be left alone until she deems it appropriate. Her Highness has settled in her old room and has not gotten out since Her Highness short meeting with me.”

Elsa’s eyes were unfocussed for a second, still thinking how it was that her sister had not gotten to see her immediately. Well, it did not matter, Elsa was going to her. NOW. Before the Advisor or her Nana managed to stop her, and stop her they tried, she was out the room and headed in a furious sprint towards where her four-years-absent sister was.

Four years. Four long and freaking years since she had last seen her beloved sister. Four years since the older Princess went away, partially to travel and partially to escape her bethroded. To escape their parents. To escape their Mother. To escape the woman that constantly berated her, compared her to Elsa and, more importantly, reminded her of how Powerless she was. How useless she was.

Elsa was no fool and she knew, everyone knew, that their Mother hated Anna. Not only did the Queen have to get pregnant again thanks to Anna, but the older Princess had made their Mother’s life difficult at every turn. Anna was not an Elemental and by Arendelle’s law she was not worthy of the Throne. So the Queen had to have another child… it was a miracle that Elsa had been born a female and had an Affinity. Any other outcome would have led to their line’s extinction.

She had read her Mother’s hidden diaries. She knew she had been their last hope after a long list of miscarriages that had made the Queen and King fret and worry over who would reign once they were gone. Countless babies had died a few months after being conceived. Many of them, those that had reached the second trimester before also dying, had been males and also useless to the matriarchal monarchy that ruled Arendelle. Many had died before she was born.

And all because of Anna. Or so their Mother wrote.

Somehow for the first time in recent history, or at least in the last century, a non-Elemental child had been born into the family. Sometimes Queens would marry non-Elementals, but their children had always held the Power. Anna did not. She was born as normal as a peasant girl and the only reason her parentage was not questioned was the fact that Queen Idunn had carried her and she had been born exactly nine months after their parent’s wedding.

Anna had been a healthy baby with a happy disposition and a smile and a laugh for anyone that came close to her crib, or so her Nana told her one night months ago as a bedtime story when Elsa had cried over her travelling sister. There had been no concern over the firstborn’s Affinities, at first. Sometimes children took more than a year to develop their Empathies, but when Anna turned two and there was no sign of the Power…

Both the People and the church had demanded another child, and so the long years of fruitless pregnancies began. The first miscarriages were a tragedy and fate had been blamed. Pages upon pages were written in her Mother’s diaries asking God why they were being punished, why He did not want the family line to go on. But then, four years after the first miscarriage, something had happened that made her Mother think their punishment was not so, but rather it was a curse set upon them by none other than her first born.

Elsa had spent several hours, when she could sneak at night to the library or she would have the rare day off, searching for the reason why their Mother had decided it was Anna’s fault, but so far she had found nothing. Once she had asked Anna why their parents did not hug her as they sometimes did Elsa, and she had received her sister’s week-long cold shoulder and a harsh reprimand from her Mother for her curiosity. Elsa had been four then and she had learnt quickly that there were topics that were not to be mentioned, ever.

Just as there were persons that were not to be mentioned in front of her parents: The Duke of Weselton, the Chief of Berk and Anna, among others. They were people that her parents hated on different levels and that they had to interact with for the sake of the kingdom, leaving them bitter about it.

This was why little Elsa, not quite seven years old, had not blamed her sister when the older Princess decided to hit the road the moment she turned eighteen. Princess Anna had left the moment she was considered an adult and the Castle had let out a collective sigh of relief. The months before her departure had seen everyone tense and waiting for disaster to strike the more the Queen berated her firstborn and the angrier Anna become.

And so, on the Summer Solstice four years ago, the redhead had grabbed her horse, gathered some supplies, gave her little sister a quick kiss on the lips and fled before daybreak… and before their parents could order the staff not to give her anything to take. Elsa was not sure but, considering the scary rant and the yelling her Mother did, she firmly believed that Anna had taken more than clothes and food. That she never again saw the Queen and King’s crowns, crowns that had been in the family since their line ascended to power, made her believe her big sister might had financed her trips with something more valuable than gold.

Finally arriving to the Green Room she skidded to a stop. She had lost Advisor Kai and her Nana some hallways back and for once she was thankful that this part of the Castle was mostly inhabited. The Green Room, that was in reality a series of small rooms and chambers, sat on its own wing and gained its name from the old moss coloured tapestries that hung all over the place, making it dark and dreary. No one set foot there other than the newest and most ignorant servants, as some rumoured that the halls in that wing were haunted. It was no surprise there was no one around to stop her.

She stared at the door with intricate moss carvings, knowing Advisor Kai and her Nana would catch up with her sooner or later, yet debating with herself if she was to knock on the door. Even when Anna had been living in the Castle, Elsa never bothered her sister in her room. The times she had seen her were during meals, the rare walks through the gardens and the odd times together at the library… the younger princess rarely ventured to this part of their home, not that she had had much time for visiting, anyway.

“Your Highness!” The Advisor’s voice echoed in the empty hallway and she knew it would not be long before the servant arrived. That the old man believed as fervently as her parents that she should not interact with the older Princess made her instantly start pounding on the door with all her might.

“Anna!” she yelled as her small fists hit the wood violently. “Anna!”

“Your Highness!” Advisor Kai’s enraged voice called even closer, making her panic. An enraged Advisor was nothing she wanted to see… or hear. She just hoped this small disobedient act did not count as losing control. She had not seen the High Priest in private for over five months and she did not want to see him outside the monthly services and confessions any time soon.

“Anna!” Her scream broke mid-word as her despair grew. “Open the door! Anna!”

“Your Highness!” The Advisor had finally arrived and she could see her panting Nana turning the corner at the end of the long hallway. “Her Highness- Anna did not want- to be disturbed!” he scolded her in between deep gulps of air but, thankfully, he did not touch her. So far, so good.

Elsa frowned. She knew the only reason the old man did not want her seeking her sister was that he did not want the Crown Princess to interact with the cursed older Princess. “I want to see her,” she demanded in a tone perhaps more fitted for a normal, peasant five years old.

The servant echoed her frown and laid a heavy hand on her shoulder, making her gulp. “Her Majesty Queen Idunn,” he said in a sombre tone, “did not want you to mix with such scum, Princess.”

Elsa winced as she let the man led her away from her sister’s room. The Advisor rarely dropped the formalities and when he did it only meant he was pissed beyond rationality. “But-” she started only to be cut off abruptly by a threat that made her blood freeze.

“I’m sure His Grace would be willing to see you at this time, Princess,” he said coldly, “anything to make sure Her Highness is in perfect control.”

“That will not be necessary, Advisor,” Elsa said in a small, trembling voice.

“I am sure it won’t,” he concurred, satisfied.

The young Princess was taken to her room and left there. It was past her bedtime and after a long day and an even longer night she was beat. Laying on her bed she drifted off to sleep wondering why Anna did not visit her and if, in fact, her parents had fallen ill and died in their guest suite at Corona. Her dreams were plagued with her sister’s face and her parents’ pale forms, nightmares filled with the moss colour of walls and the white colour of sickness, with the salty sea breeze and the putrid smell of decay, with the sounds of hooves and the echo of death.

Unknown to her, in the darkest room of The Green Room, a lone silhouette stared at out the window to the cloudless sky. Its pale skin so similar to the moon reflected on the calm sea. Its red eyes a stark contrast with the blackness of the night.


	3. The Stranger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been really happy with the response I've gained with this story so far!!!!
> 
> I mean, this is a dormant fandom - I expect to see much more content coming up with the new movie - and this is a 'forbidden' relationship and this is _mostly_ under age and dobius consent... so... thank you so much to everyone that's commented: 
> 
> Cinder  
> Rivyn   
> speks   
> Sashel  
> 98   
> Maegan
> 
> And all the likes: LucyAlexandra, Xar94, MellowYellow, israfel00, misconstrued198, RDarkstorm, Allectus, YuriLover24, AnonymousLesbian, and speks and those 18 guests that I want to know the name of!!!!
> 
> I'm better at commenting back and keeping up with you, my readers, but life's been an ass and I've been all over the place, so... thank you so much for the support and the love!!!
> 
> Please enjoy my dark material and my demented thoughts :)

Elsa stared at the letter that had been delivered not even twenty minutes ago. The messenger had come back from Corona after a week and a half, confirming the news that she had been dreading and he had presented to her a small box that she knew contained her parents’ signets and rings and a letter addressed to her.

She had read the letter where King Wölf of Corona detailed how her parents had succumbed to an illness that had been devastating their kingdom for the last months. It was an unknown sickness that weakened the mind and brought a spell of strange dreams while at the same time made the body as weak as a new-born. Many had died of it and so far the doctors had not found a cure… or even the original cause.

Her parents had known about it and, as her Mother was good friends with Queen Lucina, they had decided to stay and help in any way they could. Both the King and Queen of Corona were Fire Elementals and having an Earth and Air Elemental might have helped them some. Apparently, their presence had done nothing but get themselves killed with that strange sickness.

The doctors had discovered a month ago that the sickness spread with the dead, and so those that had died from it were burned rather than buried to help contain the disease. Her parents’ bodies, which should have been transported back to Arendelle for a formal memorial as soon as possible, existed no more. The only thing Elsa had was that wooden box with the signets and rings and that piece of paper she was reading for the hundredth time.

“Your Highness?” Mademoiselle LaFontaine asked her.

She had been in the middle of a poetry lesson when the messenger arrived to confirm her parents’ deaths and as such her professor was there to witness her reading. She was there to see her trembling form and her paling face. She was there to witness the struggle she was having not to crumble and cry on the floor as she desperately wanted to. “Mademoiselle,” Elsa said in a controlled voice. “Please see yourself out, your services will not be required until further notice.”

“Your Highness?” The relatively young woman looked at her strangely. The Princess had never dismissed her before and she was not sure what to do about it, Advisor Kai had told her and the rest of the professors to never leave until they were either relieved with another professor or the Advisor himself saw them out.

“Leave, Mademoiselle. Advisor Kai will contact you sooner or later.”

There was something in the girl’s penetrating gaze that tell the professor it was wiser to follow orders and deal with the consequences later. “Your Highness.” The woman curtsied formally at the seated Princess before leaving the Library, intent on finding someone to show her out the Castle.

Elsa ignored her professor and kept her sole focus on the letter on her hand. It was one written by her Mother as she fought that damnable illness. According to it her Father and she had battled the sickness for more than a week and he had gone before her by just a day. The letter detailed little of how they had lived that week other than praying and instead focused on a list of chores Elsa had to do now that she was to be the new Queen of Arendelle.

Traditionally she would have to wait until she turned eighteen to claim the Throne, as that was the age of majority the Land had, and until then she would need an appointed Guardian to watch over the kingdom and herself. However, what she was reading in the letter confused her and made her realize her Mother was really out of touch with reality. Not only did her letter asked for Elsa to be crowned as soon as possible, but it also asked for Anna to be titled as Regent Queen.

Now, having young Elsa take the Throne was not so unheard of, even if she would be the youngest Queen in Arendelle as currently the youngest Queen took the mantle at thirteen, but having two Queens would make things complicated. Not only would they need to revise the Old Laws to determinate who would have the most authority, they would also need to ensure that the church recognized a non-Elemental as a ruler… something not done since ever.

The people of Arendelle would do anything that both the Crown and the church declared with almost no complain and claiming that Anna was to be Queen alongside Elsa would be accepted easily. But if the church was against it then the people would surely question it and convincing the church was a chore she was not sure she could tackle. His Grace the High Priest Edmond was an old fashioned, old raised, old man and he was one of the most hard-headed and stubborn men Elsa had known in her short life. He had been around ever since her Grandmother Queen Elise’s times and both her Mother and Elsa had been taught to differ to him in several important matters concerning their Lands.

His Grace would not happy to know they would have no bodies to bury, just as he had been not happy to know Elsa was not letting anyone refer to her as ‘Her Majesty’ yet. He was not amused either every time Elsa lost control of her Ice, claiming that her Mother had mastered her Element when she was four. He got really angry when, by whatever reason, Elsa had to miss her monthly confession and he was always pissed when the young Princess did not reverenced him as the rest of the kingdom – including her parents – did.

Right now His Grace was in a sour mood, he had been not happy that Anna had returned and had not gone to the Chapel to announce her arrival. In fact, he was not happy Anna had returned, period. He was not fan of her sister and Elsa firmly believed the man would have had the redhead blasted out the Royal Line if the Laws had not protected her. Being a proved daughter of Queen Idunn, Anna was considered a Royal Child and, while unable to be the Crown Princess, she had the same privileges and duties a second or third daughter would have.

Hence no blasting her out the family.

“Your Highness.”

Elsa looked up from the letter to find her Nana looking at her worriedly. “I need to speak with Advisor Kai,” she told her, “the moment he returns send him to me.”

Her Nana frowned at the paper in the Princess’ hand. The Advisor had gone on an errant for His Grace and had not been present to receive the box the messenger had gotten from Corona and, as such, he had not been able to open the letter Elsa was holding. That breached all forms of protocol and made the old woman fret. “Your Highness should had not opened the letter by herself,” she could not help but scold, “there was no way to know it was not poisoned.”

The Princess looked at her Nana with impassive eyes. “I had the messenger open the letter and wait,” she said slowly in the same tone one would chide a little, ignorant kid. “Do not presume to think otherwise.”

The older woman flinched at that, the young Princess was acting more and more like her Mother with every day that had passed since the first news had arrived. “My apologies, Your Highness,” she said with a deep curtsy.

“You may go,” Elsa dismissed her with a wave of her hand. “I have other matters to attend.”

“By your leave, Your Highness.” The woman left and Elsa read the letter again as she did. She had had little more than a week to come to terms with her parents’ death and now she was able to control her tears over their deaths. Tears that, while still shed for the loss of the people who brought her to the world, were still very much shed for the reality of her becoming Queen; of her losing every little bit of hope of maybe being free one day. She was stuck and she was powerless to do anything about it other than grit her teeth and move forwards.

Besides, she had much more important things to do with her time than crying and mourning over her lost hope.

Ever since she knew she was back, Elsa had gone and try to see Anna with no luck. She had banged at her door for hours and the older Princess had not bothered to even tell her to get lost. She had bugged Advisor Kai and several servants countless of times to get her in the Green Room but they all refused, Kai because he was adamant Elsa did not meet Anna and the rest because they were scared of what the cursed Princess could do to them if they went against her wishes.

It did not help that Elsa had never had a voice. Servants and staff answered to her as she was, had been, the Crown Princess but ultimately they answered to Gerda, the housekeeper, and Gerda answered to Advisor Kai who in return answered directly to Her Majesty Queen Idunn. Elsa could command and order at her heart’s content but only if she did not go against the word of Gerda, Kai or her mother. And even now that she was going to be crowned she knew that it would take some time for her to be actually considered the new Queen. It would take a while for people to obey her as they should.

She had massive shoes to fill in. No one outside the Castle had ever seen her and she knew of the rumours that populated the kingdom, everybody knew she was an Ice Elemental and that she was really young, it was going to be hard to have the People accept her… it was going to be really hard.

She groaned as she felt a headache coming. Not only she needed to be accepted as the Queen, she needed her sister accepted as the Regent Queen. Why would her Mother be such a monster to demand Anna was crowned too? Was it not enough she had driven Anna away all those years ago? Why antagonize her further, and cause trouble for Elsa at the same time?

“Your Highness?”

The door opened without knocking, making the young girl frown. Advisor Kai was standing there, as regal and as serious as always. She found herself despising the man for an instant. “Advisor,” she greeted him, “we need to prepare the Coronation.”

The old man blinked at that. “I reckon Your Highness has heard from Corona?”

Elsa immediately gave him the letter, letting him see her Mother’s last wishes. “We’ll need two tiaras,” she commented lightly.

“Your Majesty,” the Advisor cleared his throat uncomfortably, instantly switching at what would be her new title. “His Grace will not be happy with this.”

The soon to be Queen scoffed. “His Grace is, and always will be, obliged to see to any Monarch last wish. That’s the Land’s Law, and you know that as well as His Grace and I do.”

For a second it looked like the old man was going to argue, but thankfully he simply bowed. “I will start the preparations, Your Majesty. Is there anything else Her Majesty would need?”

Elsa regarded him sombrely. “I need to speak with Anna. See to that.”

“My deepest regrets, Your Majesty,” the advisor bowed lower, “Her Highness Princess Anna had not been seen ever since I told her of Their Late Majesties’ demise.”

Elsa blinked at that. She was not sure why that statement surprised her, Anna was well known for evading people for long periods of time and she often confined herself to the library and her rooms, so she was not sure why she thought that maybe, just maybe, she had come back changed. “Has she spoken to Kristoff yet?” she asked.

There was only one person in the whole Castle that had a somewhat easy relationship with her sister. Kristoff and Anna were roughly the same age and they had been close ever since Elsa could remember, or at least they were as close as a stable boy and a princess could be. On the rare occasions that Anna had ventured outside she was always with him and it had been not uncommon to hear that Kristoff run errands for her.

The Advisor made a face at that. “I have not heard of him in several years, Your Majesty.” Just as everyone within the Castle knew of their strange friendship, everyone knew that Kai hated it. He never did anything to stop it, as the Queen had never ordered it, but they all knew he despised Kristoff almost as much as His Grace Edmond despised Princess Anna.

Elsa snorted quietly. Of course the man would not know anything about Kristoff… Not that she herself had seen the blond man since her sister left. “I do not care how you do it, Advisor,” she said coldly, “I need to see Anna no later than tomorrow.”

The man visibly bristled at the tone she adopted, yet did not comment on it. “Yes, Your Majesty,” he bowed. “Is there anything else Her Majesty requires?”

Elsa nodded, there was something she needed to do, something that she really did not want to do. “Plan a meeting with His Grace as soon as possible, Advisor, I shall be the one informing him of my Mother Queen’s orders.”

“As Her Majesty wishes.” His bow lowered. “By your leave, Your Majesty, I will be back to inform Her Majesty as soon as I’m done.”

Elsa simply looked at him, her face impassive. “Dismissed, then.”

“By Your leave, Your Majesty.”

After another low bow the man left and the young girl sighed softly. She had a hard time ahead of her, and she was sure everyone that surrounded her were going to make it even harder for her.

XxXxX

She did not understand it, she never had, and she knew she never will, why on Earth the throne room was so barren, so impersonal, so cold… so dark. As far as her understanding went, throne rooms were meant to be warm and inviting, the place where people could come and seek their royals, the place where they could voice their concerns and _talk_ to their royals.

Throne Rooms, those she had seen described in her books, were usually lighted with the rays of the sun that filtered through large windows. They were usually adorned with tapestries and murals of the Family’s prowess, of the Land’s history and the kingdom’s riches. Some were built to impress people and visitors, some were more fitting to make the royals’ work easier, some were simple there, rarely used.

Arendelle’s throne room was nothing of the sort. Built in the heart of the Castle, its lack of windows made the use of torches and candles obligatory at all times, the flames casting shadows and monsters in the almost black rock of the walls, making it not only intimidating, but also hard for the visitors to stay still for more than a couple of hours. The bareness of the Room made it look bigger than it really was, having the Royals’ Thrones raised in a dais as the only furniture and decoration. That the Thrones were solid gold made no difference in the end, the Room was just too empty and Elsa did not understood why that was.

So, she sat in her throne, a low-backed one that was at the Queen’s throne’s right. Less ornate than the Queen’s, her custom made throne was still much more adorned than the plain one that once was her Father’s. Her chair had several sapphires and diamonds encrusted in the gold – blue and white, her royal colours – that sparkled in such a different way than the rubies, onyx and emeralds that almost made the gold in her Mother’s throne impossible to spot. The King’s throne, like all the male Thrones that had ever been in Arendelle, was a plain mix of gold and amethyst.

She had never liked the way the thrones were made implied that the only important person in the Royal Family was her Mother, and at some extent, Elsa, and that had been the way the things had been done for centuries. Her Father was a quiet man, always listening to her Mother’s wishes and whims, but he was a good ruler and he was fairer and more just than her Mother ever was. He had deserved a good throne, yet he had conformed with the one that once was her Grandfather’s. It was not fair.

“Your Majesty.” Her Nana’s voice pulled her out her thoughts suddenly. The throne room had been unused since her parents went away, more than six months ago, and she was startled to see that the old woman had found her.

“Yes, Nana?” she asked after a moment of surprised fright.

“Advisor Kai asked me to tell Her Majesty that Her Highness Princess Anna will be unable to meet with Her Majesty,” the woman said formally. “Also, it’s close to Her Majesty’s bed time.”

Elsa sighed. That refusal was something she was dreading, yet expecting. The sole fact that Anna had not gone to see her once in the almost two weeks she had been around made it painfully clear she did not want to see her younger sister. It stung, that rejection, but she was used to it, so she did not let it bother her more than a second.

“You’ll inform Advisor Kai to hasten my meeting with His Grace,” she said. “I shall meet you at my chambers shortly. You may go.”

Dismissing her Nana’s curtsy, Elsa stood and made her way to the pair of doors that led not to the public part of the Castle, but the closed-off one, the doors that led to private studies and family rooms. Waiting patiently for the footman to open the door, she sighed discretely. Too bad Anna did not want to see her… it was a shame she was going to see her regardless.

It took her longer than she wanted but she finally made it to the Green Room, the grand door that lead to it mocking her with its closeness and moss-coloured frame. She hated that door with a passion, maybe not as much as she hated His High Grace, though.

“Anna?” she asked, knocking on the wood as she had been instructed by so many professors. “I need to speak to you.”

Silence. Nothing answered her.

There were no footmen in this part of the Castle.

“Anna?” Elsa tried again, this time knocking harder.

Still nothing.

Huffing exasperated she shook her head at what she was about to do. It was something that not only broke all kinds of courtesy rules, but also was something she simply did not do often. Reaching out with a trembling had, she was surprised to notice that the doorknob was almost level with her eyes. It felt odd in her hand, its elongated shape too big and to foreing to her to feel exactly comfortable.

She knew how to turn knobs, even when she never required to open doors by herself, just as she knew there was no one assigned to open this door and there was no lock on it. None of the Castle’s doors had locks and that was why, after struggling for a moment, the door opened with a soft creak, letting her see the darkness and feel the chill of what made her sister’s rooms. “Anna?” she called again.

Nothing.

She huffed again. She knew the Green Room was a series of big rooms so maybe her sister was indeed there, but she was far away enough not to hear her. Knowing she was doing what she was not supposed to, she entered the room and faced the dark void that threatened to consume her whole. “Anna?”

Walking slowly as to not stumble over something, apparently the chamber maids put no foot in here and as such the fires and lamps were out, she made her way around, every minute calling out for her sister. “Anna?” she called as she entered and exited rooms, getting herself deeper and deeper into the older Princess’ domain. “Anna? Why won’t you answer? Anna?”

The blackness was all around her, not even the windows were open to let the moonlight enter the rooms and she crossed paths with more than one furniture in her journey. “Anna?!” she called yet again, desperate to know where in God’s name her sister was. “Anna?!”

She reached another room and after looking for the door – and its doorknob, God knows for how long – she finally came across an open window. The moon shone brightly, up in the sky and she noticed that she had been searching for her sister way longer than she had thought. Maybe it was time to go back, her bedtime had passed hours ago. “I’m sorry, Anna,” she murmured softly, staring out the window. Sorry for what, she did not know. It could have been for something trivial like entering her rooms uninvited or something important like for being such a lousy and stupid little sister.

“Aw, how sad,” the mocking voice chilled her bones and made her spun around faster than she had ever moved before.

“What the…” she stared at the shadowed corner were a pair of bright, red eyes, were watching her. “How did you come into this room?” No one was allowed in the Green Room other than Anna and the occasional unlucky maid.

“Oh, Elsa,” the person said, their voice dripping with bittersweet condescending, “you don’t remember your sister? I’m gonna cry.”

The thing, the woman, came out the shadows and Elsa froze. The hair, the same shade of sun rays that filtered down the colourful windows at the church; the face, round and smooth, with a colony of freckles over the nose; the voice, not quite high but not too deep either, husky and controlled, soothing and measured; the height, at least two feet taller than herself, leaving Elsa to crane her neck upwards to meet her eyes, just like she had always have to do before… it was all her sister, it was all Anna.

But the eyes, the eyes were not hers, red and cold, not the rich aquamarine that were signature for their bloodline; nor the posture, languid and relaxed, yet powerful and domineering, so different from the guarded and stiff one that Elsa had learnt, just like her sister had; nor the demeanour, she was in control, like life itself bowed to her, and only to her, unlike the resentful and angry one the now Queen had come to relate to her older sibling; and the paleness, that made her look sick, gaunt, dead, was unlike like the rosy cheeks and pink lips she so well remembered… she could not be her sister.

She was not her sister.

  



	4. The Sister

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the wait!!!
> 
> To write this story I need to go into a dark place, or so that's how most it was written. Me, being a coward, would't go into that hole until about a couple of months ago when my brain decided to it on its own, so I started writing this again.
> 
> I recomend y'all to re-read everything so you guys have all the information fresh, but that's just my opinion. With any luck, I'll have this all up before Frozen II hits the theaters.
> 
> Thanks for reading.
> 
> Pardon the mistakes... my mind's too fuzzy to catch them all.

“ _Oh, Elsa,” the person said, their voice dripping with bittersweet condescending, “you don’t remember your sister? I’m gonna cry.”_

_The thing, the woman, came out the shadows and Elsa froze. The hair, the same shade of sun rays that filtered down the colourful windows at the church; the face, round and smooth, with a colony of freckles over the nose; the voice, not quite high but not too deep either, husky and controlled, soothing and measured; the height, at least two feet taller than herself, leaving Elsa to crane her neck upwards to meet her eyes, just like she had always have to do before… it was all her sister, it was all Anna._

_But the eyes, the eyes were not hers, red and cold, not the rich aquamarine that were signature for their bloodline; nor the posture, languid and relaxed, yet powerful and domineering, so different from the guarded and stiff one that Elsa had learnt, just like her sister had; nor the demeanour, she was in control, like life itself bowed to her, and only to her, unlike the resentful and angry one the now Queen had come to relate to her older sibling; and the paleness, that made her look sick, gaunt, dead, was unlike like the rosy cheeks and pink lips she so well remembered… she could not be her sister._

_She was not her sister._

“What are you talking about?” Elsa demanded, her voice shaking. “Get out of here before I call-”

As fast as a flash the woman had her pressed against the window pane, a cold hand covered her mouth and she saw up close those sparkling red eyes. She could not help the whimper that escaped her throat.

“How annoying…” the woman husked, a slow, closed mouthed, smirk appearing in her face when Elsa’s eyes widened in fright. “Good girl,” she cooed in that same condescending tone, “stay still.”

Try as she might to prevent it, to call upon all the lessons she had received in her short ten years of life about keeping calm and never showing her feelings, Elsa panicked. With fumbling fingers, much to the obvious curiosity of the damned stranger, she tugged at one of her gloves and shot her hand forward, sending her Element flying to the woman. “Get away from me!” she shrilled.

She was not sure when she had closed them, but when her eyes opened the stranger was staring down at her in shock, a little river of blood flowing from a cut in her cheek. “Oh my,” she said in an unamused undertone. “That was close…”

In that moment it hit Elsa. She had hurt someone. She had hurt someone with her Power. She had used her Power to make someone bleed. If she was panicking before, now she was frantic, hysteric, terrified. Losing control was one thing, but hurting someone? She should not have done it. She was so, so, so stupid. “I’m so-sorry!” she cried, “I didn’t mean to hurt you!”

The woman chuckled and the hollowness of it made a shiver run down Elsa’s back. “Don’t worry,” the stranger said with an easy smile, confusing and scaring Elsa even more. She put a hand against her cheek and rubbed at the blood. “I’m fine. See?”

Elsa saw the hand leave the cheek and she was shocked to see it unharmed. The cut that had been steadily, if weakly, bleeding was no more. The woman’s pale cheek was unblemished and even the blood smudges that should have been there, were not. What kind of monster was this woman?

“But…” the taller female said. Her mouth opened in a wide smirk, letting Elsa see for the first time how her teeth were perfectly white, how they glistened in the moonlight, how they looked sharp and simply terrifying. Hands were suddenly at either side of Elsa’s head and those teeth were too close for comfort. “… what should I do with a bad girl like you?” the whispered, her lips oh so close to her ear.

The young girl trembled, the tears that had obscured her vision fell when she closed her eyes and whimpered the moment those teeth gently nipped at her neck.

“Tell me, My Little Snowdrop, should I spank you, like the bad little girl you are?” the woman rasped against her skin.

Elsa stilled at that. It was not the threat of a beating or even the closeness of their bodies, nor was the feeling of the older girl’s hot breath behind her ear. No. It was the name she was called that made her heart stop.

My Little Snowdrop _._

XxXxX

“ _Snowdrops.”_

_The girl looked up from the flowers she was admiring. She was not supposed to be there, but her riding lesson had been cancelled and Advisor Kai was away with her parents overseeing the last ship’s departure of the season; winter was upon them and soon any trade was going to stop until the fjord unfroze at spring._

_So, not having anything to do and not really wanting to be coped inside on such a clear, and relatively warm, day, she was out walking around the gardens and inspecting the flowers. There was a new parcel with flowers she had never seen and so she was kneeling in the ground, simply observing them when the voice startled her out her inspection._

_Realizing who it was, she sprang to her feet and curtsied deeply. “Good Evening, Princess Sister.”_

_Anna nodded at her, sombrely. “Hello, Elsa.”_

_Elsa smiled up to the older girl. She had not seen Anna outside dinners for over a week, so she was beaming at the opportunity this meeting presented. “How are you doing, Princess Sister?” she asked happily._

_The redhead shrugged carelessly and Elsa frowned confused, the action so common that she had never encounter it before. “What are you doing out here?” the older Princess asked her, “shouldn’t you be in lessons?”_

_Elsa bit her bottom lip nervously. Yes, she was supposed to be taking lessons, but it was not her fault her riding instructor had fallen off an untamed mare and broke his leg that very same day. Even so, if word got to Advisor Kai and her Mother, it would be Elsa the one reprimanded. “Lessons got cancelled, Princess Sister.”_

_Anna grunted. “Are you always so formal?” she asked the girl._

_The blonde frowned again. “What ever you mean, Princess Sister?”_

_The older girl waved her hand at her, an action that was lost to Elsa. “Just that. You are always so polite… so… upright.”_

_The younger Princess’ frown depended. “I don’t understand, Princess Sister.”_

_Anna sighed. “Stop calling me Princess Sister,” she said plainly._

“ _But… that’s what I should call you…?”_

_The redhead shook her head, exasperated. “And who told you that?”_

“ _Mousier Fromage and Advisor Kai, Princess Sister.”_

“ _Elsa, you need to stop listening to all they say.” The older girl knelt beside the flowers she had been admiring. Her voice was low, tired and… defeated?_

“ _But, they are my Instructors… they teach me everything I need to know to rule the Lands one day, Princess Sister.”_

_Anna scoffed. “Sure they do,” she grumbled. “Fine… do whatever you want, but stop calling me Princess Sister. I’m Anna, just Anna.”_

_Elsa grimaced, but knelt near her sister. “I don’t think I can do that, Princess Sister.”_

“ _Sure you can, Elsa. Just call me by my name.”_

_The blonde gulped. “I-I’ll try, A-Anna.”_

_The older girl smiled. “There, that wasn’t so difficult, was it?”_

_Elsa’s cheeks reddened. “A little, A-Anna.”_

“ _Just keep practising,” Anna patted her head gently, softly stroking her almost white hair. “So, you were looking at the Snowdrops?”_

“ _Snowdrops, A-Anna?”_

_The redhead huffed amused. “You know you don’t have to say my name every time you address me, right? You’ll wear it out. And yes, Snowdrops. The flowers are called Snowdrops.”_

_Elsa’s blush grew hotter. “Apologies, A-. My apologies.”_

_Anna chuckled at that. “You sound like an old lady. Apologies… what five years old talk like that?” she asked to the air._

“ _Uh?” the obvious confusion on her face, coupled with the peasant-like sound coming out her made Anna’s chuckle turn into a light laughter._

“ _By the Gods, you sure are a piece of art,” she said amused._

“ _I don’t understand, A-. I don’t understand.”_

_Anna waved a hand, dismissing her. “Don’t worry. It’s not important. So, Snowdrops?”_

_Elsa let the matter drop. She really did not understand and she did not want to turn their time together into another lesson. This was the most fun she had had in months and she was spending time with her sister, she was not about to question her and chancing the older girl’s short temper to make Anna upset with her. Again. “I have never seen them before, A-Anna.”_

“ _They got planted not too long ago,” Anna said, gently cupping one of the white, hanging flowers in her hand. “The Queen brought them from Corona, I think.”_

_Elsa nodded. The fact that Anna chose to address their mother simply as ‘The Queen’ was such a common occurrence that she did not feel bothered by it. “I like them.”_

“ _Good. Because they remind me of you. My Little Snowdrop.”_

XxXxX

Ever since that day, whenever they had managed to be alone, Anna had always called her ‘My Little Snowdrop’. The last day she saw her, when she had woken her up hours before dawn and pressed a hurried kiss to her lips, that was the last thing Anna had said to her.

My Little Snowdrop.

“A-Anna?” Elsa’s vice trembled with both fear and hope. No one knew that she had toured the gardens that day with Anna, learning all about the flowers she had never seen, just as no one was aware of the pet name she was called by her sister.

“Yes, My Little Snowdrop?”

“Anna!” And without thinking, she launched herself to the older girl, embracing her as strongly as she dared. “Anna!”

The redhead chuckled darkly as she freed the girl from her. “Now, now, Elsa. We were discussing your punishment. No one enters here without my permission.”

But Elsa was not listening to her. She was trying not to breath, she was trying so hard not to burst out sobbing. She was trying not to feel, not to lose control. She was willing her heart to stop breaking, she was willing her legs to keep supporting her. Anna had not bothered hugging her back, nor had she bothered to be gentle when she pushed her away. And while she was still scared of what her sister had become, she was more saddened to realize that she really was not missed by her. That she had forgotten her promise.

It hurt.

It hurt knowing for sure, knowing for sure that what she feared the most, was indeed real.

It hurt losing all hope that maybe, just maybe, her sister loved her. Before, when Anna was still staying at the Castle, before she left, there were days that they would spend some time together, just like that day in the gardens. Those days the young girl could pretend they were just normal sisters and that the redhead cared for her. She could pretend, and later fantasize, that they were happy and that there was nothing to worry about. No formalities, no Advisors, no Land to rule, no parents to please, no worry about whether one of them had an Empathy and the other not.

She had then spent the last almost five years pretending that Anna was away to avoid their parents and the marriage contract that they were trying to force her in. She had pretended that the older Princess had left saddened and desperate, not because she had wanted to be away, but because she had had no choice at the time. She had pretended that Anna missed her as much as Elsa missed Anna and that one day they would meet again and embrace and kiss and bask into each other’s presence and simply feel loved and simply be happy. Like she promised.

Knowing that was a lie, a fantasy she had dreamt to herself, hurt. It clawed at her chest and left an open wound that she could feel bleeding. The agony was too extreme, too raw. It was worse than what she felt reading that first letter informing her of her parent’s passing. It was worse than those nights she had cried for her absent sister. It hurt much more than any private visit to His Grace had ever hurt.

And there was only a thing to do, then. Something she had never done, but had known how to do for years now. A trick, a shortcut she had read in an ancient book shortly after Anna left. A last resort.

A way to stop her feelings from taking over her mind.

Closing her eyes, she willed her Element to move inside her body. She willed it to travel from the tip of her fingers and toes all the way to her chest, cooling her from inside out and making her blood run slower. She willed it to rest at her heart and stop its frantic beating, surrounding it in a sheen layer of ice, protecting it from the slashes it was receiving.

If Anna did not care about her as a sister, there was nothing to do other than mourn about it later, when she was alone and free to cry and lose any form of control. It might take days, even weeks before she was able to do it without consequences, but she was to be Queen soon and as such she needed to seize the moment to talk about what brought her to the Green Room in the first place.

Once she felt her heart freeze all over, she opened her eyes and looked at her sister. “I deeply apologize, Your Highness,” she said flatly, “I just needed to speak to you for a moment.”

Anna blinked owlishly, a brief flash of surprise crossing her face before being erased when she sniffed uninterested. “Well, that still doesn’t tell me what we should do about you being here without permission, does it?”

Elsa locked gazes with those red eyes. They were still scary and so cold, but she did not feel the need to lower her face as she had before. “I need to speak to you about the Coronation, Your Highness,” she said calmly, “we need to make preparations.”

Anna’s eyebrow rose. “Coronation?”

Elsa nodded, as her breath let out a small cloud of visible air. The room was not chilly, but apparently freezing one’s heart also froze other parts of the body. “Yes. Our Mother Queen requested us to be Crowned as soon as possible, Your Highness.”

“Us?” Anna said sceptically, eyeing the cloud disperse in the air. “What do you mean ‘us’?”

The blonde took a deep breath, willing the ice she was feeling at the tip of her fingers to recede. She needed to regain control of it before she did something she was not supposed to do, but she could also not afford feeling right now. It hurt too deeply. So she controlled the ice within her body as much as she could, before answering. “Our Mother Queen’s last wish was for both of us to be Crowned, Your Highness. I shall be Queen Regnant and Her Majesty Anna shall be Queen Regent.”

Anna laughed and Elsa just watched her. “As if that church worm would let _me_ be Queen!” she said before starting to laugh hysterically.

Elsa rose her one eyebrow. There was no mistake who the redhead was talking about. “His Grace the High Priest Edmond is obliged to see to all Queen’s last wishes, Your Majesty, that’s the law. The same law which dictates that, even given the lack of Element in Her Majesty’s body, Her Majesty Anna can, indeed, be Queen Regent as long as there’s a Queen Regnant to rule at Your side, Your Majesty.”

Anna’s laugh died abruptly. “What did you call me?” she asked, her tone sombre and more controlled than Elsa ever remembered.

Elsa, however, was trying to end this as soon as possible. Controlling the ice around her heart was proving to be more difficult than she imagined and she was risking either stopping her heart or bursting out crying. “Would Her Majesty Anna liked to help with the preparations, or should Advisor Kai and I plan everything?”

“Stop calling me that!”

“My apologies, Your Majesty. I am just following protocol. Shall we meet tomorrow to talk about the Coronation?”

Anna pinned her against the window again, one hand at either side of Elsa’s head. The redhead snarled down at her, a deep, guttural sound that made the younger girl’s chest vibrate uncomfortably. “Shut up!” she shouted. “Don’t call me that!”

“Your Majesty?” Elsa asked indifferently. While part of her was a still scared of what Anna had become, the bigger part of her was enjoying annoying the older girl and she could not help the brief flare of satisfaction that brought her to have fist slammed just centimetres away from her ear, cracking the glass behind her. She was making the composed woman before her tremble with fury and that, for an instant, felt good.

“I said stop it!” Anna raised the hand that had already smashed the glass, letting it hover just above her own head. Before she could do anything with it, or make another demand, a frantic knock sounded at the door.

“Your Majesty?” Advisor Kai and Gerda came in the room without waiting for an answer.

Anna immediately whirled around to face them. “Get out!” she yelled at them, still furious.

The housekeeper trembled at the shout, hastily retiring from the room. However, Advisor Kai remained at the room’s entrance. “My apologies, Your Highness,” he addressed Anna with a slight bow, “but we grew concerned when her Majesty Elsa didn’t return to her rooms at her established bedtime and thought she might been here.”

Elsa took the opportunity to come out behind Anna, whose frame had been hiding her from the intruders. “That’s quite alright, Advisor. Her _Majesty_ Anna and I were just finishing our conversation,” she said frostily, making sure to emphasize the proper title her sister should be addressed by.

Said sister snarled low at the title, but neither the Advisor nor the younger girl paid her any attention. The man’s focus was on the glass behind them and the concern and curiosity was evident in his stance.

Anna, following the man’s eyes, shrugged. “Elsa lost control,” she explained flatly, yet it was easy to hear how upset she still was.

Elsa stiffened at those words, and, much to her horror, the ice that had been lurking at her fingertips finally escaped her when her focus was lost at seeing the glare the man directed her. A small amount of snow started falling the short distance from her hands to the floor and where she stood a frosted circle began to spread out.

“I see,” the Advisor said as flatly as Anna had spoken, “perhaps it’s time for Her Majesty Elsa to go to bed then. After all, it’s been months since Her Majesty lost control, so Her Majesty must be really tired,” he commented off-handily.

The redhead nodded. “Yes, please, take her away from here,” she ordered as she turned to leave via another door, to somewhere only she knew. Before she left, though, she said over her shoulder. “And make sure she doesn’t come back. Ever again.”

Elsa closed her eyes. The panic she felt was foreign at the moment thanks the ice around her heart; it was almost as if she was watching from outside how her emotions felt on her chest. Her mind was in control right now, but she knew the moment she thawed her heart, the sadness, coupled with even more fear and anguish, would incapacitate her. Why did Anna want her to never return? And worse, why had she lied? Had the older girl not know what those words meant around the Castle?

“Princess,” Kai’s controlled fury addressed her once they were alone, “let’s get you to bed. Tomorrow you’ll have a long day and I’m sure His Grace will want to keep you for longer than we have had planned.”

The blonde nodded soullessly and went to the man’s side. It was not surprise when a bruise-forming grip fell upon her shoulder as she was escorted out The Green Room. As they walked, she let the ice around her heart thaw slowly so that by the time they arrived her chambers and was left with her Nana she was crying silently, the hole at her heart once again open and bleeding steadily. The consequences of letting her emotions free be dammed… she was in trouble already, so why not let herself feel again?

Quietly and quickly, she let her bristling Nana take out all the pins in her hair and help her into her night clothes. There was no conversation that night, as Advisor Kai had coldly told both women what was expected from her the next day. Her lessons had not been cancelled even when she knew that after spending time in the Chapel with His Grace she would be fit to do nothing.

“Nana?” Elsa sobbed out when she was led to the bed.

“Yes, Your Majesty?”

“May I have Sir Thomas tonight?”

The old lady sighed. “My heartfelt apologies, Your Majesty, that cannot be done,” she said as she made sure all the covers were around the petite girl.

“Please, Nana.”

“I apologize, Your Majesty,” the woman said as she rapidly extinguished the candles all around. “Now rest, Your Majesty, tomorrow will be a long day.”

Elsa was soon left alone, the tears leaving a frail trail down her cheeks and pooling at the pillow. She cried that whole night, not getting a wink of sleep. She might wanted to believe she was sorely crying by the rejection she had experience, that she was crying only because Anna had showed she truly did not care. But that would be lying. And she knew better than to lie.

Yes, she was crying because Anna did not love her, but she was also crying for the day that awaited her, just as she was crying for the impotence she felt, for the sense of not having a say in her life, for the knowledge that she would never be free.

Tomorrow was to be a long day, indeed.


	5. The Traveller

_**Four years ago**_

“Ar’ yoo shure yoo wan’ to du dis?”

The redhead saw with mild disgust as the blond chewed on the saliva covered carrot as he spoke. As much as she liked Kristoff and Sven, seeing them share food was not one of her favourite pastimes. “It’s the only way,” she said simply, idly picking at the small mountain of straw she was sitting on.

“Anna,” Kristoff said once he had swallowed and got more comfortable against Sven’s laying form, “you can’t leave. Not like this.”

“I can’t stay, either,” the Princess countered, “if I don’t leave before the contract comes to pass, I’ll be getting married with that stupid Hans.”

“Prince Hans’ not too bad. We stable boys talk and his squire had nothing to say of him but praises. He’s the thirteenth son and he’s a weak Elemental: He is the perfect out! You’ll have no responsibilities- there’s no way any child of yours makes it to King- and he’s filthy rich… you can be comfy and away from here, the two things you want!”

“I don’t want to marry,” Anna said hotly. Kristoff’s arguments were always the same and they always made her feel dirty. Yes, Prince Hans was the perfect man for someone like her, but even so, that was not something she wanted. “I don’t want to pretend I care for a man I barely know… and I absolutely don’t want to carry anyone’s child!”

“Anna,” the man sighed, “we’ve been friends for years, so please, listen to me now. Marry him and live a happy life away from here. Let your sister be Queen. Leave.”

“I shouldn’t have to leave.”

“Everybody hates you. You’re Powerless,” he said matter-of-factly.

“An Affinity is not everything,” Anna responded as usual to the same excuse Kristoff always gave her, “I shouldn’t be treated like a pariah just because I can’t control an Element. This damned kingdom shouldn’t be such a snob.”

“They are snobs. So what? Every kingdom is the same. Your sister is the Crown Princess, you don’t need to carry any responsibility.” Kristoff shrugged as he picked another carrot to munch on. “Marry, Anna, and try to be happy.”

“How can you be so calm?” the redhead asked irritated as she threw some of the straw to her friend. “Once I’m gone you’ll probably be kicked out of here. The only reason you still have a job it’s that Kai thinks I’ll curse him if he fires you.”

The man stopped mid-chew when the straw hit him in the face. He forcibly swallowed and sat up straighter. What he was to confess to his friend would not be well received. “I’m not going to be a stable boy for much longer.”

Anna froze in place, not knowing what scared her the most, the words her friend said or the way he said them.

Kristoff looked down, not willing to see the girl’s face once he came clean. “I-I’m going away to finish my studies,” he said in a small voice, “I-I think this’s the best I can do for myself.”

The Princess shot to her feet and started pacing. A fire started in her chest that she had never before felt near her friend. This fire, this burning, this agony, was only felt when the Queen was near or when Kai came by with a stupid order from her. This feeling was not supposed to be felt for Kristoff, never for him. “Are you out of your mind?!” she whispered-yelled at him. They were in the farthest corner of the stables and they needed to be quiet if they wanted to avoid punishment. She should have been attending lessons and he should have been tending the horses, but this information made her want to scream to the heavens. “How can you choose that?! After- after-”

Kristoff’s eyes remained on the ground between them. “What do you want me to do, uh? I have not many options. I can either be a stable hand my whole life- risking as you said being kicked out of here sooner or later- or I ordain as His Grace wants. I only have a couple of years left, Anna, and if I leave for Bavaria I can shorten that time,” he said quietly to his pacing friend. “You’ve always known this job was given to me because it was part of my duties at the Seminar, it’s not like I had a choice about that either.”

Anna whirled to glare at him. “And you’ve always known that I hate the church, hell, we both do. After what he did to you… If you go and sell your soul to them it’ll be over, you’ll never be free again.”

“I’m not free, Anna, I’ve never been.”

“Yes you are! You’re of age now, you can decide what to do with your life! You can be free of that man!”

“And what can I do?!” the boy rose his voice slightly. “All my life I’ve been studying and working here. I have no other trade. The Seminar took me in when I was a young boy, they taught me everything I know. I only know about horses and the Bible… Anna, please, understand, this is the best option I have…”

“… and what he did…” Kristoff grew silent, his eyes once again to the floor, “… it doesn’t matter any more?”

“… Of course it does,” he said in a small voice. “I hate him, Anna, but I have no other choice. If I stay I’ll starve, if I go… maybe I can do something so no one has to go through what happened to me.”

Anna let herself fall against Sven, shoulder to shoulder with the blond. “You are a good man, Kristoff,” she sighed out, “but are you sure this is what you want?”

The man let a coarse laugh out. “Of course not. I’d rather get Sven and live in the mountains, but the Queen’s punishment for illegal Ice-harvesting is death and I have no way of getting a permit. I really don’t want to risk my neck over how to get food.”

“Ice-harvesting… figures…” Anna mumbled. If there was something she had always known about her friend it was that he loved ice. He was obsessed with it and he lived for his rare days off when he could trot up the mountain and see the harvesters at work. He knew his father had been a harvester before dying in the hands the same ice he was working with, just as her mother had once fed those harvesters in one of the many little inns that were scattered through the mountain’s base.

“So… you’ll marry Prince Hans and I’ll go to Bavaria”

“Hell no,” Anna scoffed. “You go to Bavaria, I won’t stop you…” Anna’s eyes glassed over in deep thinking. She smiled. “In fact, I think I might join you.”

XxXxX

“A-Anna?”

“Shh,” the redhead crouched closer to the big bed, “not so loud, My Little Snowdrop,” she whispered to her sister.

The younger girl sat up, letting the covers pool at her waist. A small smile flared across Anna’s face when she saw Sir Thomas, the bear, cosily tucked besides the small blonde. Sir Thomas had been a gift from Prince Hans to ensure that he was seen with appreciation by the Crown Princess; his, to his belief, soon to be sister-in-law. It was such a shame Hans and Elsa would never be family, though. Or maybe not.

“Anna?” Elsa mumbled, as she rubbed the sleep out her eyes. It was still dark outside and the small Princess’ wake up time was yet hours ahead. “Is something the matter?”

The older Princess snorted at such a grown-up phrase coming from the six-years-old mouth. No matter how much she had tried to make her sister talk more relaxed, the Crown Princess was simply too conditioned to talk like a mini-adult. “I’m leaving, Elsa.”

“Beg your pardon?”

Anna smiled softly. “I’m leaving, My Little Snowdrop, I just wanted to say goodbye.”

Elsa nodded, her mind still too hazy to actually understand what was being said. “When are you coming back?”

The redhead smile turned sad. “I don’t know.”

“Are you going with Prince Hans?”

Anna scoffed. “No. I’m not going with Hans.”

Elsa’s face scrunched with confusion made her sister want to laugh, however, the time for laughter had long since passed. “Don’t worry about it. I’m leaving, but I’ll come back.”

The blonde blinked, two fat tears streaking down her cheeks. “Take me with you,” she simply said.

Anna shook her head. “I can’t.”

And so Elsa was crying. She launched herself to her sister and Anna had no other choice but to catch her in her arms. Stiffly sitting the small girl in her lap, she sighed. “I’m sorry, My Little Snowdrop. You have your duties, as I have mine. I promise you, though, that when I come back everything will be fine. We’ll go around the gardens again, we’ll spend time at the library. I promise you Elsa, that things will be better then.”

“Don’t leave,” Elsa sobbed into her collarbone, “please, don’t leave me.”

“Oh, My Little Snowdrop,” Anna sighed again, pulling Elsa away from her. Without much difficulty, she got up and placed the crying girl back on her bed. Cradling the blonde’s face in her cupped hands, she let herself do something that she had wanted to do for some time now. With ease, her lips were firmly planted against those of her small sister and, before Elsa had time to react, she was out the room and on her way out of the Castle.

And out this damned life.

_**Three years ago**_

Bavaria had been nice. The weather had been a little hotter than what she was used to, and although it had taken some well-placed money in the right hands just to be sick for _weeks_ at sea, she did not regret escaping when she did. The ship Kristoff and she had taken out of Arendelle had got them just far enough that she could stop hiding her identity under a nun with seasickness disguise. After that it had been a long journey, changing coaches and travelling on horse to reach the city where her friend would be spending the next couple of years.

She had said her goodbyes to Kristoff when they were a city from Bavaria, Erlangen’s representatives were waiting for him at the gates and it would do no good for them to realize that the escaped Princess of Arendelle was in their lands. From there, she had simply taken her canvas bag and started on her own adventure.

She had had no plan, no idea what to do, and absolutely no way of knowing who was trustworthy and who was not. Years studying languages had paid off, though. She had been able to communicate when needed and her multilingualism had helped her pick up anything she might have missed in class. Also, her easy going and carefree attitude, not to mention her well hidden and well used money, had made her friends with people she never before thought to even cross paths with.

So of course, she had met many people willing to teach her how to fend for herself. Not many asked questions, how it was possible for a grown woman not to know the basis of life, but those that did where silenced with a coin or two. She had learnt how to hunt small animals, how to cook simple meals, how to build fires, erect tents, clean furs…

Once she was sure she would survive on her own, her first free months were spent exploring Bavaria and the towns and cities that were near it, and, little by little, she had travelled east. Once she was far enough from the people she might have made friends with and the towns she knew about, she had bought a horse and simply started following the few commerce roads and let destiny and fate play their hand.

She had nowhere to go, and nowhere to call home, so it had no matter where she ended up every night. Sometimes she was lucky and she was invited to warm some cutie’s bed, sometimes she was not and she had to sleep under the stars. Sometimes she would come across a town and, if she was tired and filthy enough, she would part with some coins in exchange for a room and bath at the inn, and sometimes she would simply pass through and continue her journey.

Sometimes others joined her. A lovely brunette, all curves and softness, accompanied her for more than a week once. And what a week that had been, sharing Anna’s horse, the blonde’s food, and of course, the furs at night. An old man had also stuck to her for some days, nothing was shared between them, other than an easy silence only broken by her horse’s hooves clanking on the dirt, and some kind words exchanged at nights over a warm bowl of stew.

From her companions she learnt even more than what she had in Bavaria, and every time she chose to stay in an inn she made sure to listen to whatever bard there was at the moment. She heard stories of old and heard so many songs, she heard news about the new world and the piracy down the Indies. Not often, she would heard something about her homeland or about Bavaria, the only way she had of keeping some tabs on the people she cared for. But, above all, she heard tales and rumours of things that terrified children and made adults tremble with fear.

And, from one of those rumours, one that kept repeating with every bard she encountered, an idea surged and a plan was formed.

_**Two years ago**_

It had taken longer than she expected, but she had finally found herself before the woman that might help her. She had to travel for months, following leads that were not always right and always chasing the trail of death that had made the rumours start. The little money she had left had been spent loosing tongues and buying information, acquiring journals and talking to the one girl that had survived.

And so, after too long searching, she was finally before her.

“ _My people tell me you’ve been searching all over for me.”_ The woman’s old dialect was difficult for Anna to understand. It sounded French, but not quite so, and as the last months she had been practising her German and English rather than French, it was a little jumbled and rusty when she answered.

“ _I have, my Lady.”_

The woman was tall and imposing, and her commanding and oppressive presence had made Anna kneel without being prompted. _“Rise, child, and let me see for myself if you are worthy of my gift.”_

And so, the redhead rose and saw for the first time those red eyes of the one she would be now calling _Maman._

XxXxX

“You are stupid.”

Anna winced, opened her eyes and winced again. The barely there light was too bright for her new eyes. “What?”

“You are stupid,” the voice repeated themselves, Anna’s ears were too sensitive too. “You actually asked Maman to turn you into a monster.”

“I needed to be powerful,” the redhead mumbled around her sore throat. She was so thirsty and her mouth felt funny.

The voice scoffed. “Right. Powerful.” A subtle movement at her side and Anna found herself being sat up, supported by the owner of the voice. “Come on, new girl, Maman wanted me to feed you.”

A goblet was placed against her lips and something sweet and warm was suddenly in her mouth. Greedily, and more thirsty than she had thought, she gulped down the thick offering with gusto.

“Easy, there,” the voice, a girl, said, “wouldn’t want Maman’s new pet to choke now, would we?”

Sighing, but following the instruction, Anna slowed down her drinking. Once the goblet was empty, she was laid down once more. “Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me,” the girl replied. “Rest now, I’ll wake you when it’s time to go hunting… you’ll surely won’t be thanking me then.”

Anna, however, did not listen much of it. Her broken body hurt beyond reason and her mind was hazy. Now that her thirst had been quenched, she was again asleep, dreaming of sunnier days and fields filled with snowdrops.

XxXxX

She had been right. Once the hunt was over the reality of what she had done came crashing down on her.

The man laid at her feet. His shirt drenched in redness where his chest was slashed open. His pants smelled putrid, where he had pissed himself in fright. And his head… was resting some paces beyond where his body was.

“ _She needs more practice_ ,” Maman said critically, admiring what Anna had done. “ _Mircalla_ ,” she addressed the girl that had fed and helped her before, “ _make sure she refines her technique quickly_.”

“ _Yes, Mother._ ”

XxXxX

“How old are you?” Anna asked her companion as they looked up at the stars. Ever after that first night when Maman had turned her this girl had been besides her. She was petite, the top of her head not quiet reaching Anna’s eyes, and her hair was the darkest she had ever seen. It fell down around her slim shoulders in heavy waves and her face was so pale that it made Elsa look tanned.

“Eighteen,” she said.

Anna scoffed. “No, really, how old are you.”

Mircalla sighed. “I was born on 1680.”

The redhead’s eyebrows rose as she turned to see the girl. “That’s a long time ago… I guess that’s why you can speak my language so easily.”

The shorter girl shrugged, her eyes never leaving the stars above them. “I get bored easily… Maman can speak many more languages than I. Our sister certainly can too.”

“Our sister?”

Mircalla nodded. “Yes. Maman sent her away not long before you arrived… I guess it’s good to have another sister for when she’s not around.”

Anna turned to the sky again. “I had a sister… she’d be nine on winter’s solstice.”

This time, it was the brunette who turned to her. The regret and mourning was evident in the younger’s face and voice. “What happened to her?”

“She was born.”

_**Half a year ago**_

“ _Do you understand?_ ”

“ _Yes, Mother,”_ the two answered in stereo, a year together had made them be in sync with one another to the point it felt they had been together for millennia.

“ _Anna_ ,” she addressed the redhead, “ _go north. Return to the lands you know.”_

“ _Yes, Mother.”_

“ _And Mircalla_ ,” she turned to the older girl. “ _Don’t let her stray_.”

“ _No, Mother.”_

**Author's Note:**

> Please, leave a review. I want to know what are your thoughts on this story.
> 
> Flames will be used to make s'mores n keep me warm in the storm that's _In Noctem_.
> 
> Read ya later.


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